If I were, for some strange reason, compelled against my will to read Confessions aloud before a crowd, I would choose F. J. Sheed’s translation.
In my mind, Sheed not only sufficiently translates the originals into English, but also does the best job with the electrifying high poetry of Augustine's writing.
For example, compare Sheed’s translation of Book I, Chapter III with the examples in the body of your question:
But if you fill heaven and earth, do they contain you? Or do you fill them, and yet have much over since they cannot contain you? Is there some other place into which that overplus of You pours that heaven and earth cannot hold? Surely You have no need of any place to contain You since You contain all things, and fill them indeed precisely by containing them.
Notice that, unlike the other more technical translations, the last sentence in the above excerpt is molded into an imperative sentence rather than an interrogative. This appears to be a subtly significant attempt to convey both the theological, as well as the emotional dynamism that St. Augustine is canonically known for. This also breaks up the monotony of questions by giving some intelligible credit to a philosophical giant such as Augustine.
When reading Sheed’s translation of Confessions (as well as his other works) I often catch myself reading the passages with a sort of rhythm, almost like I’m reading one of C. S. Lewis’ works of poetry. It combines just the right amount of the post-Elizabethan, King James-ish English with a more modern Chesterton-like prose, both of which I am truly fond of.
Here I have loosely rearranged a passage of Sheed’s translation in order to illuminate the rhythmic structures of sentences that help me to stay zeroed in on what Augustine is actually saying:
And if You are already in me,
Since otherwise I should not be,
Why do I cry to You,
To enter into me?
Even if I were in Hell You would be there,
For if I go down into Hell, Thou art there also.
Thus, oh God, I should be nothing,
Utterly nothing,
Unless you were in me,
Or rather unless I were in you,
Of whom and by whom and in whom,
Are all things.
Book I, Chapt. II
Sheed’s translation is thoroughly saturated with a kind of seamlessness, that of which other translations I have read (or have attempted to read) seem to lack. As in all of his theological works, (which I very highly recommend every single one of them) Sheed does an incredible job of efficiently manipulating the English language into transporting eternally understandable truths to simple minds like mine.
Give Sheed a chance…you won’t regret it.
manpreet![Tuteehub forum best answer]()
Best Answer
2 years ago
Not all translations are created equal, and often the public domain ones freely available online are some of the worst.
Augustine fans out there – whose translation of Confessions is the best in English? I'm looking for readability (out-loud or otherwise) here, not necessarily technical accuracy.
Here are the English translations that I'm aware of (I doubt this is a complete list):
Here are four excerpts from different translations, all from the first few sentences of Book I, Chapter 3:
Pusey:
Burke:
Boulding:
O'Rourke:
My initial impression is that Boulding sounds the most contemporary and in many regards is "easier to read," but perhaps it is weak in other areas. Sheed seems to be a very close m.tuteehub.com/tag/second">second (and superior in other regards). The book reviews on Amazon rarely address the translation, so I'm asking here.